Free Website- Is this a good deal?

The other day while driving in my car listening to the radio, I heard an ad for a company offering free websites. Wow! Most people would think…”a free website, how could I pass that up?” With my background as a developer and website designer, I was intrigued. How could a company afford to offer free websites and still be in business? So, I listened even more intently to the ad. Everything sounded fine until it got to the fine print at the end. In the disclaimer it talked about:

1. Domain Ownership -After you get your free website, the company owns the right to your domain name unless you pay a large sum of money to buy it. That seems pretty shady to me. Your domain name is, for example, www.jenrusfreelance.com. This name means a lot to your business and brand. It should have very little value to a website company. At JenRus Freelance web design, we don’t hold your domain name hostage. We set up the domain name for you, we set up the hosting for you, and YOU own the rights to both.

2. Monthly Fees – Another part of the disclaimer was the monthly fees. Sure the website is “free” until you throw in the absorbent monthly fee structure. At JenRus Freelance, we don’t work on retainer. This means that we don’t charge you a monthly fee to maintain your website. Of course, we are always here to support the websites that we design, but that is not based on a fee. We also offer web maintenance packages, but only if the client needs or wants it. The only regular fees with our website design services is your domain name and hosting fees, which come with all websites.

Some other things to think about when looking into a free website:

Your Time – Your time is worth something too. Some things that you, as a novice, can do in two weeks, a professional web designer can probably do in a few days. You have other things to worry about in life, so developing your website is probably a secondary task for you. Hiring a website design firm such as JenRus Freelance might actually save you money, by saving your valuable time.

It’s Not What You Do – You have a business to run. Maybe you are in real estate, maybe you work at a bank…you don’t design websites. At JenRus Freelance, web design is our business.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – All websites that we do at JenRus Freelance have basic search engine optimization (SEO) already implemented. Sure, you can put up a free website, but can it be found in search engines? Sometimes paying a little bit of money for a website with search engine optimized content can actually make you money.

There are good free website tools out there, but as pointed out above, it might be worth looking at an affordable web design company like JenRus Freelance instead. Contact us for a free quote at any time!